Netherworld Investigator

It was already five o'clock in the afternoon when we came back from the orphanage. Huang Xiaotao drove the car back to the city and found a grilled fish stall to treat us to dinner.

She was on the phone the whole time we were eating. Being the task force leader seemed to be very busy job.

When she put down the phone, I asked, “Is there any progress?”

“No substantial progress at present,” she answered. “The best time to investigate a murder case is within the first forty-eight hours. The time of discovery of this corpse is simply too late. I’m worried that it might turn out to be a long-lasting battle!” Huang Xiaotao frowned.

“If only you had another body, then maybe it’ll be easier,” said Dali without thinking.

The two of us glared at him, and Dali immediately tried to explain himself, “But you see it in movies all the time! You get one body after another, and then the real killer gets caught!”

“You potty-mouthed idiot!” Huang Xiaotao snarled.

“I’m afraid what Dali said might happen,” I said. “This isn’t a case of personal vendetta. It’s more like a targeted serial killing! In seven days, I am worried that a second victim will be found in another corner of this city.”

“Bai Yue wants to take revenge on his mother who abandoned him, so he targets prostitutes—isn’t that just like Jack the Ripper?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

“Yeah, I agree.” I nodded.

“Then like the case of Jack the Ripper, will it remain unsolved forever?” asked Dali.

Huang Xiaotao gave him a look.

“Is it so hard for you to just shut up sometimes? Geez!” she said.

“Okay, okay, I’ll just shut up and eat now!” said Dali.

At this time, the waiter brought a tall glass of milkshake that Huang Xiaotao ordered to the table. When Dali saw it, he remembered what the corpse spewed out at the crime scene last night and had to rush to the bathroom with his mouth covered.

“You idiot!” Huang Xiaotao laughed.

After dinner, Huang Xiaotao intended to send us back, but it was already dark, and the police station was far away from our school. I didn’t want her to get more tired than she already was, so I told her that we would take the bus back.

Before she left, she said, “We still need to unpack and analyze the clues at hand, so I’ll call you when we need your help again.”

“Okay!” I replied.

The next two days were uneventful, but on the evening of the third day, Huang Xiaotao suddenly called. Her tone was particularly serious.

“Song Yang, someone might get killed tonight, can you come and take a look at it?”

“What do you mean? What happened?” I asked.

“I already asked Wang Yuanchao to pick you up. Wait for his car at the main gate.” After saying that, Huang Xiaotao hang up the phone before I could say anything.

Dali had just gone to sleep. I woke him up and he complained, “Why does it have to happen late at night...”

“Are you coming? If you’re not coming, then I’m going alone!” I said.

“Ah, wait… I’ll just go get dressed now.” Dali then climbed out of his bed.

We slipped out of the dormitory and waited for a while outside the college main gate. We saw Wang Yuanchao’s car pull up. After I got into the car, I asked him what happened. Why did Huang Xiaotao say that someone might be killed tonight?

“You’ll know when you get there.”

As the car drove on, I found that we were heading towards the Sacred Heart Orphanage. After arriving at the place, many police cars surrounded the orphanage, and the nun that we met that day was also there. Huang Xiaotao was screaming at two police officers.

“How could you let a middle-aged man escape? Who’s going to take responsibility if someone died?”

“What happened?” I asked.

Huang Xiaotao said that they searched the hospitals in the city for two days and found dozens of stroke patients who met the characteristics. However, they were all found to be unrelated to the case after questioning, so they expanded the scope and searched for people who received special treatments for stroke in the neighboring city. The hospital found the medical record of the orphanage director, and he suffered a stroke a year ago.

Huang Xiaotao immediately realized that the director was probably the accomplice!

So, she called and ordered the policeman in charge of monitoring the director to quickly apprehend him. Unfortunately, the director had already escaped through the back door of the orphanage. According to the people in the orphanage, the director never went out at all, so it was more likely that he just went out to go assist the murderer.

“Let’s go check his office first,” I said.

“Okay.”

We went into the Dean's office and found that the light in the room was still on. The policeman who was just yelled at by Huang Xiaotao defended himself, saying, “We saw the light from the distance and thought that he was always inside, so we got careless...”

Huang Xiaotao shook her head and sighed.

“It’s my fault,” she said. “I should’ve put more people around the orphanage.”

I looked at the room. There was a Bible and a pen on the table. There was an ashtray with burnt paper inside it. A forensics team member was going to pick it up. I Immediately cried, “Wait!”

There might be important clues on this piece of paper. It had already burned into ashes, and I was afraid that it would be shattered if anyone touched it. I said to Dali, “Go buy a squid with an ink sack and a bottle of linseed oil.”

“What? At this time of day? All the stores are closed, dude!”

“The nearest big supermarket is three kilometers away,” said Wang Yuanchao, “I’ll drive.”

“Great!” I said. “Thanks!”

Wang Yuanchao went out with Dali. I stayed in the office but there was no other clue to be found there. Then, Xiaozhou came over and tapped me on the shoulder.

“Song Yang, I want to tell you something.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“There’s a vampire in Nanjiang City!”

I almost coughed up blood. What was this guy’s problem? Why was he so insistent about vampires?

When he saw how doubtful I was, he immediately took out a yellow file from his briefcase and handed it to me.

“Xiaozhou,” said Huang Xiaotao, “don’t tell me you haven’t been analyzing the video these past two days but spent all your time researching vampires?”

“I believe that this is an important clue to solve the case!” said Xiaozhou, full of confidence.

Huang Xiaotao’s cheeks twitched, if it wasn’t out of respect because the two were of the same rank, she probably would’ve sworn at him.

I opened the file, which recorded a bizarre murder case from 18 years ago. The deceased was a 37-year-old prostitute who was found dead in her rental house. Her blood was completely drained out of her body.

There were also some photos of the dead body in the file.

The victim was wearing a red dress, she was lying on the bed, her skin was as pale as paper. The other photo was a close-up of the head and neck, and there were distinct puncture wounds her neck that looked like teeth marks, but it was small and not as big as in the case.

When I saw these photos, my brain started to turn like clockwork. Red skirt… Prostitute... 18 years ago... Orphan...

Xiao Zhou did not notice my abnormal reaction. He asked, “What do you think? Pretty compelling, right? This case is really important, because it proves that there have always been vampires in Nanjiang City!”

“Yes, it is very important, thank you!” I said, nodding at him again and again.

Xiaozhou became very confused. He probably didn’t expect that I would thank him. I said to Huang Xiaotao, “If my guess is right, this victim from 18 years ago was Bai Yue’s mother!”

“Are you sure?” asked Huang Xiaotao.

“I’m very certain that he killed his mother 18 years ago,” I said. “Which means that the director lied to us that day. Bai Yue was not abandoned—he was escaping from a murder that he committed!”

“But why would the director cover for him?” Huang Xiaotao asked.

“I don't believe that he is the saintly man that people think him to be at all,” I said. “If he was willing to cover up Bai Yue’s past murder and even help him commit new murders, then there can only be one conclusion—the director is Bai Yue’s biological father!”

Everyone in the room was stunned. I pointed the facts out to everyone in an orderly manner. When the director was young, he broke the rules of the church and went out and met Bai Yue’s mother.

We might never know the true nature of the relationship between the director and Bai Yue’s mother, but one thing was true—Bai Yue’s mother got pregnant and eventually gave birth to him.

Because of his profession, the director absolutely couldn’t recognize this son who was born out of wedlock; and Bai Yue’s mother couldn’t perform her motherly duties well because of her profession. A prostitute who got pregnant was abandoned by the man and she then gave birth to such a freak. Naturally, Bai Yue’s mother was full of resentment, and Bai Yue himself became her target to vent off her resentment.

It is unsurprising then, that Bai Yue, who grew up in such an environment, would grow into a cruel and malicious child who hated his mother!

Until one day, he killed his mother.

The director might have been secretly paying attention to him, and he appeared at that moment and brought him to the orphanage so that he would escape the punishment for committing murder...

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